


Stargazing

by orphan_account



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Pesterlog, Pre-Sburb/Sgrub, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-06
Updated: 2013-05-06
Packaged: 2017-12-10 14:05:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/786885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's awfully lonely in Dirk's flat, but the stars keep him company.<br/>Tonight, though, he's got Jake as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stargazing

Starlight glints off the softly rippling ocean. Distant galaxies fold in on each other, spreading and shrinking on the waves' journey. Though sunglasses shade his view, it's still a beautiful sight to behold.

From the shifting sea, his gaze moves to the constant ceiling above him: drifting among each constellation, recalling the mythology behind each one. Legends play out in the night above him, occupying his mind and preventing it from clinging to things he'd rather not think about.

He does this often. When he can stand himself no longer, he loses himself in beauty. Nature takes its hold, and for a while he can escape from himself into the universe.

Tonight, though, he'll have company.

\--  golgothasTerror [GT] began pestering  timaeusTestified [TT] \--  
GT: Strider!  
TT: Oh, hey Jake.  
TT: What brings you to pester me right now?  
GT: What other than usual? Im just in need of some good chummy repartee to make my night less lonely!  
TT: Fair enough. I'd probably be doing the same right now, if I wasn't busy.  
GT: Busy?  
GT: Oh dear i hope im not interrupting you with anything important!  
TT: Important?  
TT: I live alone in the middle of the ocean. What could I ever do that would even vaguely qualify as "important"?  
TT: Just... Never mind.  
TT: Actually, it's something that you could participate in, as well. If you want.  
GT: Of course! Im always gung ho for a smidgen of participation in whatever it is youre busy with!  
TT: Okay.  
TT: I swear this is ironic, because you don't get much cheesier than this.  
TT: But just...  
TT: Look up to the sky.  
GT: Ok.  
GT: Um. All i can see is my ceiling.  
TT: ...  
TT: It might help if you go outside.  
GT: Oh! So were looking up specifically at the sky here?  
TT: Yes, Jake. I do believe I specified that.  
GT: Ah my mistake! Sorry for misinterpreting you my good bro fellow!  
GT: Ill just make the trek now.  
TT: Jake, just another thing.  
GT: Yes?  
TT: Don't bring your fucking helmet.  
TT: It'd be pretty irritating if our little escapade in cross-century stargazing was punctuated by flashing lights pulsing into your eyes.  
TT: Wait. Replace "escapade" with "adventure".  
TT: There's a little more incentive for you.  
GT: Oh golly! I do love an adventure!  
TT: Just take your phone or one of the many other millions of computers you keep lying around.  
GT: Its only the sensible thing to do!  
TT: Though I can see your point, I think you may overdo it slightly.  
TT: But whatever. We're getting sidetracked.  
TT: We've got some serious constellation-scoping to do.  
GT: Ok. Im making my way outside now.  
TT: Also, try not to get eaten.  
TT: That'd really put a damper on things.  
GT: Rest assured that all my frightening fauna are soundly snoozing right now!  
TT: Good.

Just had to make sure he wouldn't get in any trouble, the lovable idiot. This is to be a pseudo-romantic starbathing session, not a way of accidentally losing your best bro.

GT: Here i am on the outside!  
GT: Quite peaceful out here.  
GT: Not really in the thick of a frightful scrum the way i like things!  
GT: But still its jolly nice.  
GT: We should do this more often dirk!  
TT: Oh God, I'd love that.  
GT: You would?  
TT: Well, yeah, I would, if you would too.  
TT: I mean, I do this a lot alone.  
TT: But it'll be more enjoyable with my...  
TT: Friend.  
GT: Well thats flipping fantastic to hear!  
GT: Ill just lie down here. Curl up among all these vines here.  
GT: Might tuck into one of the pumpkins around here while we watch those gollynopping twinklies up there.  
TT: You settle down into the pumpkin patch, then.  
TT: Take your time, we've got all night.  
GT: Strider?  
TT: Yes?  
GT: Mind awfully if i propose something to you?  
TT: Propose?  
GT: Just want to ask if we could do something.  
GT: Because...  
GT: I know gollywogging fuckall about the stars!  
GT: So maybe you could give me a little rundown on what they all are?  
GT: Clusters and constellations and all that.  
TT: That could be rather enjoyable, yes.  
TT: Let's put that plan into motion, then.  
TT: Look around the sky.  
TT: Do you see seven stars forming a pattern sort of like a spoon?  
TT: Or a soup dipper. A Big Dipper, some might say.  
GT: I...  
GT: Yes i think i see something fitting that description!  
TT: Good.  
TT: Now imagine that's a tail to a bigger animal.  
TT: Look around the spoon part, and you'll see a few other stars that you could join onto it to form a body.  
TT: And, beneath that, four more stars that come off to form the legs.  
GT: Great jumping bingocakes!  
GT: I see it!  
TT: There you go. Ursa Major, the Great Bear.  
GT: Whats the story of this fine starry fellow then?  
TT: She's a woman, actually. Callisto.  
TT: Though sworn to celibacy in the service of the hunter goddess Artemis, she secretly became pregnant by Zeus.  
GT: Good gumptious grief!  
TT: Indeed. People found out eventually, and she got turned into a bear as punishment.  
TT: Still as a bear, she gave birth to her son Arcas, who grew to be a king.  
GT: These are some crackerjack stories youre telling me here.  
GT: But i dont doubt them!  
TT: They're myths, Jake. They're almost obliged to be wild and weird.  
TT: All the more fascinating to study, though.  
GT: So they didnt actually happen?  
TT: No, Jake.  
GT: Ok. Just making sure!  
TT: Anyway, the adult Arcas was out in the woods hunting one day.  
TT: He came across a bear and threw his javelin, unaware of the fact that it was his mother.  
GT: Flipping blasted heck!  
TT: Not to worry though: Zeus was watching. Looking down from the sky, seeing as he's all godly and shit.  
TT: He used the aforementioned "godly and shit" powers to turn both of them into constellations before any accidental spearing could go down.  
TT: Callisto turned into Ursa Major. She's the one you're seeing now.  
TT: And Arcus became Ursa Minor, which we can find if you're willing to look around a little longer...?  
GT: Sure thing!  
TT: Okay. Go back to the dipper and follow the two stars forming the end of the bowl until you see a bright star.  
GT: Got it.  
TT: That's the end of the handle to the Little Dipper. You should be able to find the rest of it from there, it's the same shape.  
TT: And there you go, that's Ursa Minor.  
TT: Hang on...  
GT: Yes?  
TT: Go back to the bright star on the end of the handle.  
TT: That's Polaris. The North Star.  
TT: For millennia, people navigated by that star. Because it stays in the exact same place, wherever you go.  
TT: You're looking at the star in the same place that I am.  
TT: Centuries and miles apart, but that one star's the same for both of us.  
GT: Thats an awful nice thought!  
GT: Makes you feel were not really that far apart after all.  
TT: Yeah...  
TT: Jake, it's been great talking to you, telling you all about this mythology.  
TT: I don't usually get to talk to anyone about this.  
TT: And we're doing this again, of course...  
TT: But how about we just lie here a while?  
TT: Just lie together. Even though we're not really.  
GT: Sure thing!  
GT: This would be an awfully romantic moment if we were in a movie together!  
GT: And if you were a girl of course.  
GT: Dadblasted gender!  
TT: Does my gender really matter to you?  
GT: Huh?  
TT: Never mind. Forget I said anything.  
TT: Let's just lie here. It can be a bromantic moment instead, if that's what you'd prefer.  
TT: Still cheesy as fuck.  
GT: I appreciate the sentiment!  
TT: You would, you big doofus.  
GT: And you would keep calling this heartwarming and sincere moment cheesy!  
TT: I'd rather not talk about me.  
TT: I prefer...  
TT: Us.  
TT: Just us and the universe.  
TT: Man, there is no way of phrasing this without making it all sappy as hell.  
TT: I can't do romance, I'm sorry.  
GT: You mean bromance?  
TT: Yeah! Bromance. Typo. Must've been channelling Roxy a few seconds there.  
TT: You know what?  
TT: How about I shut my stupid mouth and we just focus on our bromantic bonding.  
TT: ... "bromantic bonding"...  
TT: Another reason for me to shut the fuck up already.  
TT: I'm glad you're still going along with this.  
TT: But that's Jake English for you, I guess.  
GT: I wish we were actually together.  
TT: Together?  
TT: In what sense of the word?  
GT: Here i mean.  
GT: Lying here side by side in the pumpkin patch.  
GT: Id like that a lot!  
GT: But no we can only ever message each other.  
TT: Who's to say that won't change some day soon?  
GT: What? How could it?  
TT: Okay, it's a shot in the dark, I know.  
TT: But you know that Sburb Alpha Jane's been telling us about? That UU's hinted we're going to end up playing too?  
GT: Yeah it sounds great!  
TT: Well, just hypothetically, what if that game would allow us to meet up one day?  
GT: Id love that!  
GT: We could have all sorts of adventures! Together and not just me alone on my crummy old island.  
GT: But its sad because thats not going to happen. Is it?  
TT: We'll see.  
GT: I guess well just have to wait then.  
TT: Yeah.

They lie in silence for a while after that, both separately imagining what the game might have in store for the two of them. Adventures galore play themselves out in their minds, each desperately hoping that, one day, they might really end up happening.

Just wait...

**Author's Note:**

> And I've just realised that Jake's island is almost certainly in the southern hemisphere, so he wouldn't be able to see the same stars as Dirk.  
> Oh well. Artistic license...?


End file.
